Pitt men’s soccer knocks off No. 16 Georgetown, 2-0, in season opener

Photo courtesy Pitt Athletics

Planning to write off the Pitt Panthers men’s soccer team?

Not so fast.

Entering the season unranked for the first time since 2019, Pitt Men’s Soccer opened their 2024 campaign with a 2-0 shutout of No. 16 Georgetown, riding a strong defensive performance in front of goalkeeper Cabral Carter and an opportunistic attack.

Senior striker Luis Sahmkow, who helped put the game away with a second-half goal, gave a glimpse of the Panthers’ new-look mindset after the game.

“Just keep sleeping on us. Just keep sleeping on us, that’s all I’ve got to say,” Sahmkow said. “We treat every opponent like it’s the national champion, and we want to do our best every single game.”

Georgetown controlled the pace of play early, but Pitt’s defense managed to keep them comfortably away from the net, holding the Hoyas without a shot on goal for the duration of the first half. The Panthers’ breakouts began to gain momentum near the 20 minute mark, with passes to the outside spurring charges up the sideline.

No Early Rust

Pitt’s passing chemistry showed no signs of offseason rust, and Sahmkow raved about the team’s strong summer practices.

“Being here all summer, we all bought in. We all had one goal, we’ve all been training our butts off,” Sahmkow said. “Coming out as a team we said we wanted to suffer together, succeed together, and I think we did that.”

Sahmkow tallied the Panthers’ first shot on goal of the season on such a breakout, but Georgetown keeper Tenzing Manske got in front of it. Casper Svendby managed the next shot two minutes later, poking it just wide of the net.

Pitt broke the ice 26 minutes in, with Michael Sullivan threading a cross-field pass to Casper Grening near the goal line. Grening lofted a kick into the box, setting up Albert Thorsen to head it past Manske.

Casper ➡️ Albert 😮‍💨 https://t.co/fhBhFujPfP pic.twitter.com/Ga3nvZvNVl

— Pitt Men's Soccer (@Pitt_MSOC) August 23, 2024

“The cross is perfect,” Thorsen said of Grening’s assist. “I’m just in the box, he’s able to find my head and luckily I’m able to get it in. But his skills one-on-one, when he gets the ball out wide and can take on a defender, you see how much it helps the team and how much imbalance he creates. It’s pretty easy to be on the other side [of].”

The Panthers nearly doubled their lead on a corner kick at the 62 minute mark, but a Georgetown block kept things close.

Georgetown Fights Back…

Playing at center back instead of his traditional spot as a midfielder because of a red card issued to Jackson Gilman in last year’s tournament loss to JMU, Sullivan made a pair of clutch stops in front of the goal as Georgetown came on strong in the second half. First he blocked a shot attempt down low, keeping the fire off Carter. Soon thereafter he dropped into a slide tackle in front of the net, again breaking up a likely scoring shot.

Head coach Jay Vidovich raved about Sullivan’s spot performance, which earned him an MVP nod from the team and coaching staff after the game.

“The way he competed, the way he played, the way he organized, his leadership. I mean, we gave him the MVP of the match,” Vidovich said. “Made some really timely tackles, he was fantastic.”

The Hoyas continued to apply pressure as the half went on, with a shot just high from Max Viera and a diving save from Carter less than a minute apart.

Let’s go, Cabral 🫡 pic.twitter.com/FtgjEF8Hpv

— Pitt Men's Soccer (@Pitt_MSOC) August 23, 2024

…But Pitt pulls away

Vidovich complimented his team for the way they held up under the Hoyas’ onslaught.

“Weathered the storm in the second half. Georgetown is always a quality team, the start of the second half [they] put us on the back foot, but then we recovered and had some pretty good looks,” Vidovich said.

That they did.

Despite the rally, Pitt managed the decisive next goal. Sahmkow evaded a throng of four Hoyas in front of the net, lifting a kick past Manske to give the Panthers the cushion they needed to close out the win.

“I knew I had them to the right. I like to do that move, I do it in practice and I trusted it,” Sahmkow said. “Shot it, and I knew it was gonna go in as soon as it left my foot.”

Pitt Men’s Soccer sits at 1-0 on the season. Up next they’ll host Mercyhurst at 7pm Sunday.